Thread Deletion
Jul 3, 2007 | 11:38 am
#1
Original Poster
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Orange County, CA, USA
Programs: AA (Life Plat), Marriott (Life Titanium) and every other US program
Posts: 6,416
Thread Deletion
I don't want to run afoul of the "moderation discussion in private" rule. So, just a request for some direction.
I made a post in the past week, which I can't find now by searching (i.e. - it has been deleted from FT). The content of my post was benign, so I know that it wasn't my post, and I don't recall anything inappropriate about the thread.
My problem is that I can't remember which forum it was posted in. So I don't know which moderator to go to for private inquiry. Direction please.
P.S. - There is one possibility, which is that FT is presently the subject of a FISA warrant. It is my understanding that if this relates to FISA, then no one will be able to respond to my question (and Randy probably doesn't even know about it).
I made a post in the past week, which I can't find now by searching (i.e. - it has been deleted from FT). The content of my post was benign, so I know that it wasn't my post, and I don't recall anything inappropriate about the thread.
My problem is that I can't remember which forum it was posted in. So I don't know which moderator to go to for private inquiry. Direction please.
P.S. - There is one possibility, which is that FT is presently the subject of a FISA warrant. It is my understanding that if this relates to FISA, then no one will be able to respond to my question (and Randy probably doesn't even know about it).
Jul 3, 2007 | 4:42 pm
#2
Founder of FlyerTalk
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 6,540
A couple things (and thanks for the post):
Don't worry about the "moderation discussion in private" rule. Not remembering where a member posted something and is hoping someone can assist them doesn't seem to make it a moderation issue ... in my mind.
You can feel free to ask any Moderator for assistance and if it is not in their forum, they easily can and will pass it along or upward to get you the assistance you need. This can be accomplished by a number of ways:
1) Flag down a Moderator in any of the forums you frequent by clicking on their name in any of the posts they have made and sending them a PM for assistance. By clicking on their name in the posting box, your options will include to send Private Message or send Email to the member who is a volunteer.
2) If you do not know a moderator personally as another member of FlyerTalk, then on the front page of each forum (once you click into that forum) there will be a listing of the Moderators for that forum in the lower right hand side of that front page. You do not need to know these volunteers to ask for assistance.
3) If this two methods for asking assistance is not easiest for you, then you may also simply click on the red-outline triangle which is located in the left-hand posting box of each post made on FlyerTalk (it's a small symbol below the posters name and information). This is also known as the RBP or Report Bad Post symbol. While we are working on adding a new symbol for general assistance, I think it entirely OK for you to have used that to ask for help from anyone. This will automatically route to the Moderators in that forum and if there are no Moderators, be routed to the Senior Moderators. In either case, someone could have gotten your request for help and given you some advice as to where your post was.
4) And then there is me. I have a Private Message system for these types of things and you could have easily asked me for help as well.
5) And you could have posted in the Technical Issues forum if you think there must have been a bug.
So, there's many ways for any member to get assistance for things like this.
First of all, i have done a number of reports on finding your missing post. You obvious think it was deleted from FlyerTalk. Actually, I can give you the links to all your posts in the past week as you note. I have special tools which can peak inside the actions of any and all our mods to see what actions they have taken. The truth is, that unless this post you think you made is among these, you did not make any others. If it had been deleted, I could still tell from our technology. But nothing you have posted as of late has been touched. At least once a year we do hear from a member who thinks they posted something and it has been deleted. I am only too glad to research this and report our findings. To date, we have never found any evidence of a post disappearing - at least, any technical evidence. I personally think that a few years ago i as well posted something that disappeared and after my own research came to the conclusion that it really was user error. I apparently had several windows open and mistakenly clicked on another window also open to FlyerTalk and thought that was the window i had typed my post and despite frantically hitting the back space on my browser found that the post was missing (and then once i did close the other window, all was lost ... by me). Oh well, even i fall victim to my own computer skills from time to time.
Your posts:
June 20-
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...6&postcount=43
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=602
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...9&postcount=62
Yesterday:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...2&postcount=24
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...9&postcount=92
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...01&postcount=7
Today:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...10&postcount=1
But seriously, i really did research every known and unknown (we have our secrets) method to retrace your posts and find no deleted or altered posts. As well, i visited the vBulletin Web site looking to see if this is a known re-occuring problem with vBulletin and had no luck finding and common and similar problems there among other hosts of the vBulletin software.
Obviously it would help if you could recall and relevant words used in the post, post title and forum. While I was still able to search for you, more information is always better in things like this.
As for a FISA warrant? Well, I really don't know what that is and probably would know if any warrant has been served on FlyerTalk. There's the usual weekly letters from lawyers which I am famous for helping them understand the meaning of "pound sand" but warrants sound a bit more serious. Truth is, no warrants, no misconduct by any Moderator and I've got to say ... i think you might have erred in assuming you actually had made the post. That in itself is absolutely no problem - it has happened to me.
Anyway, please review the threads I have included from the past week and thank you for your understanding and support of FlyerTalk.
BTW, you're a very good member on FlyerTalk - i loved the fact that you gave kudos to Westin in one of these threads. It's always a nice gesture to pass along a compliment when it is deserved.
Cheers,
Randy
Don't worry about the "moderation discussion in private" rule. Not remembering where a member posted something and is hoping someone can assist them doesn't seem to make it a moderation issue ... in my mind.
You can feel free to ask any Moderator for assistance and if it is not in their forum, they easily can and will pass it along or upward to get you the assistance you need. This can be accomplished by a number of ways:
1) Flag down a Moderator in any of the forums you frequent by clicking on their name in any of the posts they have made and sending them a PM for assistance. By clicking on their name in the posting box, your options will include to send Private Message or send Email to the member who is a volunteer.
2) If you do not know a moderator personally as another member of FlyerTalk, then on the front page of each forum (once you click into that forum) there will be a listing of the Moderators for that forum in the lower right hand side of that front page. You do not need to know these volunteers to ask for assistance.
3) If this two methods for asking assistance is not easiest for you, then you may also simply click on the red-outline triangle which is located in the left-hand posting box of each post made on FlyerTalk (it's a small symbol below the posters name and information). This is also known as the RBP or Report Bad Post symbol. While we are working on adding a new symbol for general assistance, I think it entirely OK for you to have used that to ask for help from anyone. This will automatically route to the Moderators in that forum and if there are no Moderators, be routed to the Senior Moderators. In either case, someone could have gotten your request for help and given you some advice as to where your post was.
4) And then there is me. I have a Private Message system for these types of things and you could have easily asked me for help as well.
5) And you could have posted in the Technical Issues forum if you think there must have been a bug.
So, there's many ways for any member to get assistance for things like this.
First of all, i have done a number of reports on finding your missing post. You obvious think it was deleted from FlyerTalk. Actually, I can give you the links to all your posts in the past week as you note. I have special tools which can peak inside the actions of any and all our mods to see what actions they have taken. The truth is, that unless this post you think you made is among these, you did not make any others. If it had been deleted, I could still tell from our technology. But nothing you have posted as of late has been touched. At least once a year we do hear from a member who thinks they posted something and it has been deleted. I am only too glad to research this and report our findings. To date, we have never found any evidence of a post disappearing - at least, any technical evidence. I personally think that a few years ago i as well posted something that disappeared and after my own research came to the conclusion that it really was user error. I apparently had several windows open and mistakenly clicked on another window also open to FlyerTalk and thought that was the window i had typed my post and despite frantically hitting the back space on my browser found that the post was missing (and then once i did close the other window, all was lost ... by me). Oh well, even i fall victim to my own computer skills from time to time.
Your posts:
June 20-
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...6&postcount=43
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=602
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...9&postcount=62
Yesterday:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...2&postcount=24
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...9&postcount=92
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...01&postcount=7
Today:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...10&postcount=1
But seriously, i really did research every known and unknown (we have our secrets) method to retrace your posts and find no deleted or altered posts. As well, i visited the vBulletin Web site looking to see if this is a known re-occuring problem with vBulletin and had no luck finding and common and similar problems there among other hosts of the vBulletin software.
Obviously it would help if you could recall and relevant words used in the post, post title and forum. While I was still able to search for you, more information is always better in things like this.
As for a FISA warrant? Well, I really don't know what that is and probably would know if any warrant has been served on FlyerTalk. There's the usual weekly letters from lawyers which I am famous for helping them understand the meaning of "pound sand" but warrants sound a bit more serious. Truth is, no warrants, no misconduct by any Moderator and I've got to say ... i think you might have erred in assuming you actually had made the post. That in itself is absolutely no problem - it has happened to me.
Anyway, please review the threads I have included from the past week and thank you for your understanding and support of FlyerTalk.
BTW, you're a very good member on FlyerTalk - i loved the fact that you gave kudos to Westin in one of these threads. It's always a nice gesture to pass along a compliment when it is deserved.
Cheers,
Randy
I don't want to run afoul of the "moderation discussion in private" rule. So, just a request for some direction.
I made a post in the past week, which I can't find now by searching (i.e. - it has been deleted from FT). The content of my post was benign, so I know that it wasn't my post, and I don't recall anything inappropriate about the thread.
My problem is that I can't remember which forum it was posted in. So I don't know which moderator to go to for private inquiry. Direction please.
P.S. - There is one possibility, which is that FT is presently the subject of a FISA warrant. It is my understanding that if this relates to FISA, then no one will be able to respond to my question (and Randy probably doesn't even know about it).
I made a post in the past week, which I can't find now by searching (i.e. - it has been deleted from FT). The content of my post was benign, so I know that it wasn't my post, and I don't recall anything inappropriate about the thread.
My problem is that I can't remember which forum it was posted in. So I don't know which moderator to go to for private inquiry. Direction please.
P.S. - There is one possibility, which is that FT is presently the subject of a FISA warrant. It is my understanding that if this relates to FISA, then no one will be able to respond to my question (and Randy probably doesn't even know about it).
Jul 3, 2007 | 5:14 pm
#3
Original Poster
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Orange County, CA, USA
Programs: AA (Life Plat), Marriott (Life Titanium) and every other US program
Posts: 6,416
1. I am more than grateful for the time taken today by you, by Wharvey and by SanDiego1k, all of whom have investigated. In fact, probably more grateful than you realize. I have been here a long time, I have some strong opinions, but I pride myself on "not being a bother" except when I think it is truly appropriate.
2. I acknowledge user errror as a possibility, although I have a strong recollection of the post. (But, like you said, maybe I wrote it and got busy with something before I pushed "submit").
3. FYI, the thread was about FAM's being assigned to international flights, and the possibility that it would result in FC seats being taken on those flights. (It sounds like TSS, which I frequent, but I have a memory that it was in an airline forum.) My response referred to the fact that if you put 1,000 FAM's on that project, the net result would be very good for those of us who fly domestically (at least from the perspective of FC availability on domestic flights), because that wouldn't leave many to take "our" FC seats.
4. Further FYI - FISA is Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (or something like that - I am a civil lawyer, not a criminal lawyer). FT has active discussions about airline security. FISA warrants are issued by a secret court that meets in a special courtroom in a vault (to avoid bugging). It is my understanding that If a FISA warrant is issued to a bulletin board or ISP, only the tech person is told (because they would see the wiretap equipment, so it is need to know) but they are advised that it would be a criminal offense to notify anyone else (including the owner of the business).
2. I acknowledge user errror as a possibility, although I have a strong recollection of the post. (But, like you said, maybe I wrote it and got busy with something before I pushed "submit").
3. FYI, the thread was about FAM's being assigned to international flights, and the possibility that it would result in FC seats being taken on those flights. (It sounds like TSS, which I frequent, but I have a memory that it was in an airline forum.) My response referred to the fact that if you put 1,000 FAM's on that project, the net result would be very good for those of us who fly domestically (at least from the perspective of FC availability on domestic flights), because that wouldn't leave many to take "our" FC seats.
4. Further FYI - FISA is Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (or something like that - I am a civil lawyer, not a criminal lawyer). FT has active discussions about airline security. FISA warrants are issued by a secret court that meets in a special courtroom in a vault (to avoid bugging). It is my understanding that If a FISA warrant is issued to a bulletin board or ISP, only the tech person is told (because they would see the wiretap equipment, so it is need to know) but they are advised that it would be a criminal offense to notify anyone else (including the owner of the business).
Jul 3, 2007 | 5:45 pm
#4
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 52,779
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/
While the FIS Act sounds mighty mysterious and conspiracy like, why the government would secretly spy on a public bulletin board to detect the identity of members that know they are publicly posting information is beyond me.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign power.
Requests are adjudicated by a special eleven member court called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign power.
Requests are adjudicated by a special eleven member court called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Jul 3, 2007 | 8:25 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 1999
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, IHG Diamond, United Silver
Posts: 16,897
Randy,
Just trying to help the OP out here - there was a thread started a few days ago regarding the additional of FAMs on international flights.
I didn't post on it, but I remember reading it. And I can't find the thread, either. Still can't after extensive searching. Perhaps I saw it elsewhere, though. Wouldn't be the first time I made a mistake.
--Rich
Just trying to help the OP out here - there was a thread started a few days ago regarding the additional of FAMs on international flights.
I didn't post on it, but I remember reading it. And I can't find the thread, either. Still can't after extensive searching. Perhaps I saw it elsewhere, though. Wouldn't be the first time I made a mistake.
--Rich
Last edited by RichMSN; Jul 3, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Jul 3, 2007 | 8:39 pm
#6
Original Poster
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Orange County, CA, USA
Programs: AA (Life Plat), Marriott (Life Titanium) and every other US program
Posts: 6,416
Apologies
Big apologies to everyone. User error.
I used the information from Rich to search further, because I remembered a key word from an earlier poster. The original thread was (I think) merged in the Glasgow thread now in the TSS forum (maybe I am even wrong about the merger).
My post is still there. For future reference, I made about 3 mistakes.
A. I think the post was originally somewhere else, so I didn't look carefully at the merged thread in TSS.
B. Even when I reviewed all my recent posts (which I did *before* I ever bothered someone), I forgot that I made 2 different comments. The "search" version only reflected the first comment, not the second (my fault for changing subjects in the middle of a message) and I just *assumed* that it wasn't the one I was looking for.
C. I tried to search for the term "1,000" which I remembered using in my message. Well, 1,000 is still there, but either I made a typing error, or the search engine doesn't search numbers, but I didn't find it when I tried that method.
MY SINCERE APOLOGIES TO ALL OF YOU WHO SPENT TIME ON THIS.
PLEASE CLOSE THIS THREAD.
I used the information from Rich to search further, because I remembered a key word from an earlier poster. The original thread was (I think) merged in the Glasgow thread now in the TSS forum (maybe I am even wrong about the merger).
My post is still there. For future reference, I made about 3 mistakes.
A. I think the post was originally somewhere else, so I didn't look carefully at the merged thread in TSS.
B. Even when I reviewed all my recent posts (which I did *before* I ever bothered someone), I forgot that I made 2 different comments. The "search" version only reflected the first comment, not the second (my fault for changing subjects in the middle of a message) and I just *assumed* that it wasn't the one I was looking for.
C. I tried to search for the term "1,000" which I remembered using in my message. Well, 1,000 is still there, but either I made a typing error, or the search engine doesn't search numbers, but I didn't find it when I tried that method.
MY SINCERE APOLOGIES TO ALL OF YOU WHO SPENT TIME ON THIS.
PLEASE CLOSE THIS THREAD.
Jul 5, 2007 | 9:52 am
#7
Founder of FlyerTalk
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 6,540
The FAM thread is still there as is his comment in the FAM thread. It is the #3 post listed above in the "Yesterday" section. Not missing at all. Anyway, seems to be resolved.
Thanks and if you want to read the thread, it's here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7992501
It's actually in the AAdvantage forum.
Thanks for everyone's continued support of FlyerTalk.
Thanks and if you want to read the thread, it's here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7992501
It's actually in the AAdvantage forum.
Thanks for everyone's continued support of FlyerTalk.
Randy,
Just trying to help the OP out here - there was a thread started a few days ago regarding the additional of FAMs on international flights.
I didn't post on it, but I remember reading it. And I can't find the thread, either. Still can't after extensive searching. Perhaps I saw it elsewhere, though. Wouldn't be the first time I made a mistake.
--Rich
Just trying to help the OP out here - there was a thread started a few days ago regarding the additional of FAMs on international flights.
I didn't post on it, but I remember reading it. And I can't find the thread, either. Still can't after extensive searching. Perhaps I saw it elsewhere, though. Wouldn't be the first time I made a mistake.
--Rich